shake it
like a polaroid picture
12.30.2001
I just found our neighborhood association's web site. A great resource for panhandle residents, in theory. In practice, however, the site is utterly useless. why put up a community site if you aren't going to maintain it? I mean, how hard is it to put a calendar online?
Sidewalk Typo proves that nothing is as cool as an obscure obsession.
I can't believe how much BlogSnob has grown. When I checked the user list this evening, I saw 906 listed sites.Feels pretty good to be number 29.
12.29.2001
Rave about profits with CRAZY GLOW!
Er... props to Matthew, the crazy glow guy.
The sun'll come out, tomorrow.
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
There'll be sun.
12.28.2001
Only a 'miracle' can avert Indo-Pak war.
Ugh. Great.
Man, WWIII looks closer every day.
Giuliani's speech yesterday was simply amazing. I'm certainly not a Republican (though I'm not a Democrat either) , but I was completely moved when Rudy spoke. He transcends politics, in my opinion. Even while he talks about political issues. But that's because unlike Dubya, Rudy commands respect, and truly is a uniter. Not a divider. You know that he's speaking from what he belives, not what his handlers tell him to say (And along those lines, Rudy wrote his own speech. Try that Dubya).
Er....
My dad lives there. My Aunt and Uncle live there. My cousins lived there. It's a great little town (if you ignore the rampant development and its racist past, which was in all fairness largely stirred up by outside agitators). It's right on the lake, not too terribly far from the Atlanta airport, there are good restaurants nearby. All in all, a nice place to live.
But...
If you're trying to attract visitors, I think a name change is decidedly in order. Not to be crass (well, okay, maybe to be slightly crass), but I really can't see more than one kind of convention taking place in a town called Cumming.
Top Ssories and photos of 2001 From the Chron.
San Francisco office rents have plummeted by 50 percent and citywide vacancy rates are at an all-time high.
I just can't get my head around that. 50 percent. My God.
When I worked at a particularly stupid dotcom called onedemocracy.com--a company devoid of both business plans and leadership, where the only measure of an employees performance was what time s/he came in in the morning--I was amazed at how hard it was for them to find space to rent. Commercial real estate prices were soaring. Some landlords were even demanding stock options (oh my, stock options! remember those? that's just too rich) from dot-coms that moved in. It was insanity. This crash shouldn't surprise anyone. Everyone I knew with any sense at all knew a crash was coming, and we all hoped that it would drive down real estate prices. I remember, after the Market "correction" in March (or was it April?) of 2000, hearing bubble-headed analysts saying that a) this was it, things would rebound now, and b) it wouldn't affect real estate prices in San Francisco. Dipshits. Proud dipshits, all.
12.27.2001
I've seen a couple of stickers for, er, fecal face dot com around town, and finally got around to checking it out. It's got a great photo section and an intersting blog, with features on some tres cool local artists such as jeremy fish and andrew j. schoultz, who is, it seems, doing the work down the street.
afghans for Afghans
Das rad.
Pssst... Hey... Mister... Wanna buy a really cool bar?
If you read my site with any degree of regularity, you know that I love SF Gate's DAy in Pictures feature. So I was thrilled to see a roundup for the entire year, 2001: A Year in Pictures.
The 09/11 images are there, of course. Bert makes an appearance. And lots of unexpcted ones as well.
Sleepys, rottys, uglies, babies, more babies, squiggys and zany naked people. Always zany naked people.
BLACK FLAG: The First Five Years The Making of Hardcore: the problem child of punk rock
12.22.2001
AAAAH! Part II
12.21.2001
Mystery Squid:
In the depths of the world's oceans, where no light penetrates, scientists operating deep-sea submersibles have captured on film and video one of the most bizarre families of creatures that scientists have ever seen.
This is a really fascinating article on a new species of squid. It's amazing to me that we can still be discovering creatures 20 feet long in the 21st century. Be sure to view the video
Lest you think that terrorism is the only reason we need to reduce our dependance on fossil fuels, ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Global Warming.
Stirring image
The sites at the minister dot net have this poetry Friday thing happening. I dunno about that. I'm certainly not going to compose a poem every Fry-day. But since Ezra and Kool bobby are both in Florida for the season, I figured I'd go ahead and do one in their stead:
Webmaster EZ and writer KBK
Spending holidays in the FL A
There. Don't ever say I'm not a team player.
This is brilliant
Yesterday was a very bad day. Allow me to chronicle.
It began innocently enough. I sat at the computer, doing my thing, working on two stories, and generally having a typical morning. My mother and Harp's parents (and brother, but he's easy) are both coming into town, and I've got a lot to do before they get here. So just before noon, I set out, in the rain, to accomplish some of those things.
As I walked down Fulton Street towards Divis, on my way to the honey-baked ham store (I had to tread because they were not answering the phone) I noticed a box on the sidewalk.
"Hey," I thought,"that looks like one of my boxes." As I got closer, and looked in the box, I noticed that it was full of my stuff. Or, rather, partially full. Coming across a box partially filled with your belongings in the street in a little unsettling. Just past the box was Harper's car. One of the windows was busted out. Things were stolen. My things, her things, our things. From here on out things just went to hell.
-While trying to call a glass repair shop, standing on Divis, there is a wreck at the intersection (not a bad thing, but certainly ominous)
-I couldn't print up a file I needed to at the Copy Shop
-The glass cost $30 more to repair than the shop originally thought it would (privacy glass)
-The place where I was going to get Harper's present was closed. Permanently.
-A person I'm trying to interview rebuffed me
-It wouldn't stop raining, and I was on foot. Everywhere.
At this point, I decided to stick around the house, and concentrate on chores. Clearly, the world outside was against me.
-A tablecloth I put in the laundry turned the entire load red
-The toilet overflowed while I was cleaning the floor around it
-The sink stopped up
Okay! The house is infected, eh? Time for a fucking drink, my man. Do what they taught you to in Alabama when things get ugly and get to drinking. When times turn tough, turn to the bottle. The bottle *always* loves you.
-except when your wine has turned to vinegar
Thank you, today, for coming and not being yesterday.
Pig kisser. No, really. Pig kisser.
AAAAAH!
I'm scared. (via mefi)
It's FoxNews day!
I've been bitching about Geraldo for two days now on our super-duper-invitation-only email group. Why? Because Mr. Mustachio lied to the American pubic, playing on their sentiments, and making a mockery of American casualties, belittling their deaths, in the shameless pursuit of ratings.
So I was happy to see Tim Goodman's piece on Geraldo-as-comedy today. Although to be honest, not enough time has passed yet for Geraldo to be comedy, in my book. At this point, it's still tragedy to me. But Tim's got a great line:Bring me the head of Geraldo, despite its enormous size.
Now that's comedy. Ba-dabing!
I can't stand FoxNews. I utterly despise it. Not because it's right-wing. I really enjoy the Weekly Standard, a great magazine with a conservative bias. I dig Limbagh on occasions too, although I haven't heard him since he developed hearing problems. But the thing is, neither of those sources try to hide their bias. Everyone knows Lmbaugh is full of hot air. I don't think most people are foolish enough to take the bulk of what he says seriously. And The Weekly Standard practices incredibly responsible journalism, and makes no bones about its biases.
No so with FoxNews, and that's my issue. FoxNews is every bit as biased as Limbaugh, if not moreso. But that's not my problem with Fox. My problem is that a) Fox tends to play fast and loose with the truth a la Limbaugh and b) presents some of the most biased coverage available while c) presenting itself as fair and accurate.
Horseshit. And it's dangerous horseshit, because people in middle America don't realize that they are being sold a pack of lies.
Which is why I point out this report from FAIR: Fox-- The Most Biased Name in News. Admittedly, FAIR is equally biased in the other direction. But at least it has the nuts to call Fox out.
12.20.2001
S scrawled:
>>We get the puppy tomorrow. I've been studying Puppy Aptitude Testing to
>>better pick the perfect dog. It involves a lot of contorting the dog,
>>pain thresholds, etc. Very interesting.
Mat responded:
>>tell me more!
S fired back:
So you hold the puppy lenghwise on your arm. Head in your palm, tail closer to your elbow. The puppy is on her back. If she doesn't squirm about while she is on her back then that means she is comfortable and trusting of you. Then you take it to the next level. You lower your hand so that her head is below her tail while she is completely upside down. If she doesn't squirm you have yourself a submissive, trainable dog. It's kinda like hanging someone by their ankles out the window, if they don't protest then you have your bitch.
Beyond that I will also try to startle the puppy with loud noises.
Then there is the pain threshold exercise where you squeeze their paw until you get a yelp. The sooner the yelp the lower their threshold for pain. The lower their threshold the less you have to yank the choke collar to get a response.
We are choosing between three puppies. The one with the highest aptitude score will go home with us. Such is the world. Standardized testing can't be escaped anywhere.
From Dave:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
California's problems were caused by Enron's suddenly inflating the price
of electricity, forcing blackouts throughout the state.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/12/12/column.billpress/index.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Quite a sweeping statement.
My own observations:
If you do the math, at least four cents of every dollar Bush spent during
the election came directly from Enron.
And according to the folks at moveon.org, the economic stimulus package
would give Enron a tax rebate of $254 million.
Ezra's grandfather passed away this week. He could use a little support.
Mark Fiore has a great cartoon on conspiracy theorists & OBL today. Flash required.
I was planning on writing for the Bay Guardian to help me make it freelancing. But it looks like hard times have hit the Guardian too, and that's an option I jujst can't count on.
Got a favorite word/phrase of the year? Vote for it as Word of the Year. No surprise, just about everything is 9/11 related, and "9/11" itself is the lead vote-getter.
12.19.2001
(insert Yoko Ono joke of your choice here)
There's something to be said for Jaffro's question, and this thread on Photographica. Two, actually. Are these valid photos, and what is the difference between digital and film photography.
After years of being a 35mm snob (which my Minolta furthered), I've become really enamored with my 2 megapixel Nikon. So much so that for the last month or two, I've been using it exclusively.
I think that it is inherently different from my Minolta in several ways. But aside from saying "um, it's great for spontanious shooting," I find those hard to articulate... Maybe this is a freelance piece for a paying site. Oh well. Your thoughts?
YEAH!
I just can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that I share my name with a Chinese restaurant in Mexico. Man, I love vanity searches...
There's a guy in my neighborhood who does a lot of graffiti murals. He paints lots of elephants. Last night, when I walked by A&A Market at Broderick and Fulton, I saw a guy working on the wall. It was the elephant guy's partner, "Jay." I was glad to see the new mural, it looks like it's going to be really sharp when it's finished, but sad to see the old one go. I was glad I'd shot all the murals in our neighborhood a few months ago so that I have a record.
Murals are such a wonderful form of public art. I wanted to grab Jay and thank him, telling him "thanks for beautifying my neighborhood. You turn our walls into art." But as it was I was already weirding the guy out a little bit, and I think that would have been a little much. In fact, I think my questions were weirding him out a lot. He looked completely freaked.
In any case, I snapped a few pictures of the new mural today wen Harp and I walked by. It's still in progress. But here's a photo of the wall, and a detail shot as well. (click to enlarge)
Boy, thank goodness for these American Crusade 2001 trading cards. And here I was thinking Dick Cheney was evil, when in fact he's PlusGOOD. Silly me. (thanks Tim!)
End welfare for the rich.
Hey Chuck, by the way, that's a nice shiny new building you've got there on Beale Street.
What's that you say? No one works in it because you laid them all off? Oh.
Well have a great weekend at your duck hunting plantation. Glad to hear you got that half million in subsidies for it. I'm sure that saved some workers jobs.
What's that? Shotgun shells? Oh.
Yeah, I've heard they're expensive.
I can't believe a university in San Francisco is upset about dildos. Dildos are the sourdough bread of 20th century San Francisco. They're the cable cars and Fisherman's Warf. I posit that San Francisco is the dildo capitol of America.
"How could you not want to pick up a 'field of waving penises?'"
Indeed.
Baby hippo
The New York Times is one of the worst usage offenders on the Web. The paper of record won't be anymore if it blows into the 21st century full of arrogance and utter disregard for its readers. Long ago, the NYT became one of the first sites on the Web that required users to register in order to read its content. Okay, I can deal with that. It's inconvenient for linking, or if you're on the road, but WTF, right? No big deal. But next the NYT went pop-under crazy. I can't tell you how many of those damn orbitz ads I've killed from the Times. That's pesky, that's shitting on its readers. But the real sand in the eyes, to me, are these damned Palm Pilot ads. (note: that link may or may not have the ad, it did for me, may not for you.) If you haven't seen it, a Palm Pilot fidgets all over the screen and finally ends up on the right side nav bar. I've got no idea what the copy says. I only know it drives me nuts and makes me click away before I finish reading.
So.
No more NYT links if I can help it. Fuck you and your abrasive ads.
Have plans New Year's Eve yet? No? I do. This is from Julie's production company and the Radiance folks. Jason Knight spins at midnight.
12.18.2001
Dude you are so busted.
Geraldo Rivera to America: help, help my pants are on fire!
Good thing he was working for FoxNews at the time. Most news programs expect you to, you know, report facts and the truth and stuff. I'm glad FoxNews doesn't feel that it has to do all that namby-pamby stuff. Give me enetertainment, Rupe! You report, I'll decide.
Holy Shit!
Federal judge throws out death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Incredible, I didn't think it would ever actually happen.
ROCKER Perry Farrell just returned from a "death-defying" rescue mission to war-torn Sudan, where he helped free 2,300 women and children enslaved by the nation's Taliban-like regime.
Incredible. Well, you're Ocean-sized in my book now Perry.
12.17.2001
52 things they do better in America
Yeah! In your face limeys! U-S-A, U-S-A!
Just found The Forst Fire Collective's site.If you haven't heard this Bay Area (dare I say it? yes I do) supergroup, here's your chance. "Super Raps" is one of my faves on the Cd, but I wish they had "Witness Protection" on there, an amazing track. Fresher than rainbow grocery. If you don't know, ask who to ask.
The Stadium Pal. Pee without leaving your seat. (via wattlist)
I just (re)discovered Dave's Trek Quote Server. Great fun. Click on the icons for a new quote.
A great Day In Pictures image. I wish I was a firefighter.
Woman survives being run over by BART train. I'm just in awe imaginning her view.
"Well see, this is how it is. We want to show what a great bunch of black students we have, just as long as, you know, they aren't too black looking. That's cool, right?"
Oliver Willis has a really cool new blog chronicling "the Enron debacle and Bush administration connections." I'ts called EnronGate, and it's quite interesting.
I'm going to call out my page redesign again and again ask for comments. Keep in mind it's a pretty rough draft, but you get the idea. How's the color scheme? What do you think of the photobox (assume that it'll have thumbnails that blow up full size)? What do you like better about it than my current design? What do you like better about the current design? What would you change with the current design? Who farted?
Steve Jobs revises the date for his Macworld Expo keynote? Must be big, really big. Flat panel iMac big? iPad big? Let's hope so.
Yay! Al Qaeda Is routed from Afghanistan! We won the war on Terrorism! We won the war on Terrorism! No more terrorism, everybody! We won, we won!
What's that?
We didn't?
Oh.
12.15.2001
You know what else finances the war on terror President Dumb Ass?Oil. That's right, oil. (Oh shit, is it legal to say that these days? Is Ashcroft going to come and get me now?)
I'm experimenting with redesigns. This is one of a few I'm working on, and the most likely contender. Comments would be highly appreciated.
"I know there are more important things to think about. The attack on the Indian Parliament, for instance. Or the smoking-gun Osama tape. But those things depress me and a JC Penney close-out sale is just the panacea. Not to mention that it’s patriotic to buy stuff." -- From the Memphis Flyer. I know you'll find this hard to believe, but there's no irony in that statement whatsoever. None. Amazing, eh?
12.12.2001
Gone Fishin'
No updates till the weekend.
I'm ashamed to say I didn't vote yesterday. Congratulations Dennis
Best Christmas Display ever -- the article (thanks Dave!)
12.11.2001
Just after looking over my OJR story, I clicked on this story in the New York Times on software piracy raids. Immediately, my browser started "raining" palm pilots. Completely fucking annoying. Sure, they're attention getting. But they get my attention in the same way a housefly does. They're awful.
My story on microads (like the one in the left nav bar, but paid) is up on Online Journalism Review It's called Will Microads Save Online Content?
Wanna know Santa's Route this year? Check out the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Claus Website. Fun and scary!
Reason number 615 to get a Salon premium account: this article on a Bush detainee
My first love on the net was usenet. Long before the world wide whatever came on the scene, I loved reading group upon group upon group. Text, it's all about text for me. So hip-hop hooray, Batman, Google has 20 years worth of usenet online.
Well I'm one-for-however-many concerts there are listed here (Peaches at Crissy Field). But even though I missed out on a lot of stuff (hey, er, I've got a tipsy album, does that count?) it looks like there is still a bunch of good stuff on the horizon. Note Secadora on the 18th. Adrienne is a friend and former co-worker. Go support your local troops.
Former Dot-commers going into real estate seems like a great idea to me. From one speculative venture with artificially inflated numbers to another. Great idea. Brilliant.
Bin Laden's sons to kill him on live TV? Dude, that's even more entertaining than the guy who's gonna cut his feet off live on the electronet.
This was probably the best concert I never went to
12.10.2001
Beautiful redesign Ezra
Why lefty protestors are more fun than righty protestors: boobies
Although this regional TransLink thing sounds really cool (and is sorely needed here in the City by the Fey), I'll miss my multi-colored, ever-changing, monthly FastPass fix. ("Hey, this month they're pink, sweet!") Particularly now that I'm not working full-time. I mean, what elese do I have to look forward to on the 1st, rent?
After two or three weeks of blahdom, an excellent This Modern World
hamotam: faster than slow
You go Geraldo!
Robert Fisk's story:
They started by shaking hands. We said "Salaam aleikum" – peace be upon you – then the first pebbles flew past my face. A small boy tried to grab my bag. Then another. Then someone punched me in the back. Then young men broke my glasses, began smashing stones into my face and head. I couldn't see for the blood pouring down my forehead and swamping my eyes. And even then, I understood. I couldn't blame them for what they were doing. In fact, if I were the Afghan refugees of Kila Abdullah, close to the Afghan-Pakistan border, I would have done just the same to Robert Fisk. Or any other Westerner I could find.
December 24 is World Sousveillance Day, get a camera and get to it.
12.9.2001
Of Montreal has a new site up. Be sure to check out David Barnes' portrait page.
12.8.2001
Hamotam invades Golden Gate Park
While I wouldn't dare call it treason, it hardly serves the country to look the other way when the Ashcroft-Ridge-Thompson-Mineta team proves as inept at home as the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Powell-Rice team has proved adept abroad. In the Afghan aftermath, the home front is just as likely to be the next theater of war as Somalia or Iraq. Giving a free pass to Mr. Ashcroft and the other slackers in the Bush administration isn't patriotism — it's complacency, which sometimes comes with a stiff price.
Just how deep that complacency runs could be seen on Monday, when Tom Ridge issued the administration's third urgent announcement to date of a heightened terror alert. Why even bother? His vague doomsday warning didn't lead every newscast and didn't rouse the public or even law enforcement. On ABC, John Miller reported that the three F.B.I. field offices he canvassed had neither been advised of the threat nor "told to batten down the hatches any more than they were." What's that about? Under Mr. Ashcroft's dictum, asking such follow-up questions is aiding and abetting the enemy. In any event, no one did.
From a great editorial in today's Times by Frank Rich called "Confessions of a Traitor."
12.7.2001
I love Ezra's Big Boss Song and Jeff's Sweet Tea Anthem
I'm pretty sure Ez is gonna be one of those guys you read about who get fired for their weblogs... Not that I think he'd mind.
This week, [Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep] became the first music artists to release tracks from upcoming albums in the United States as a [cell phone] ring tone, even before the actual songs are available in stores.
Best. Christmas Lights. Ever.
Zmag has an interesting story on Boondocks getting censored. If you haven't ever read it (it isn't in all newspapers) Boondocks is a simply brilliant strip that's got the freshest political satire in a daily strip since Bloom County, yet it's much more biting than B.C. ever was. On top of that it's well-drawn too. But, apparantly, too critical of the powers that be for the times...
So I've been (thankfully) away from the computer all day, and I screwed up Coltrane's birthday, and I'm sure I've let many of you down with my paucity of posts.
But hey, it's sunny, and I don't have to be inside, so I'm not.
How's the weather in your cube?
Happy birthday Trane (via rob)
12.6.2001
Moby: shameless corporate whore
Doubtlessly you've read by now about Peter Blake, the America's Cup captain killed by pirates. But did you know piracy is still common? When I was an editor at GettingIt I comissioned this article on modern piracy. It's a few years old now, but, obviously, still relevant.
ABC's sabotage job on "Millionaire" is so complete and so spectacularly stupid that it may be unprecedented. This was worse than moving "Mork and Mindy" from Thursdays to Sundays way back in 1979, another historic triumph of ABC ineptitude.
Harsh, yet highly entertaining, words from John Carmen on what sank the U.S.S. Who Want to Be a Millionaire. Me, I blame Regis. Always Regis.
Andy pointed out the Amazon.com: Top 100 Editors' Picks to me, which I find to be a far superior list to NME's (see below).
NME's top 50 albums are out. No surprise, they names the Strokes number one (damn!). Obviously, I think that my list is far superior (you won't find any Destiny's Child, Slipknot, or Strokes teeny-bopper schlop-pop on mine, nosiree). But what's really missing is Manu Chao's album, proxima estacion esperanza. This is the hidden gem of the year. I was, however, glad to see the Super Furry Animals get props from NME.
An excelent Tom the Dancing Bug today.
Matier and Ross have an outrageous column today. It seems that the kids at Redding Elementary School have been without heat for month now. I know this site has grown, and a lot of you are reading this outside of the Bay area (particularly in Atlanta where it's in the 70s), but it's brrrr-cold-chilly here. Not in a life-threatening way, but definitely enough so as to make learning impossible, or improbable. Outrageous.
Sudden Oak death is plaguing California, yet chances are you haven't heard of it since it only affects trees. But nonetheless it could drastically alter California's landscape in myriad ways: from causing more wildfires to killing off fauna dependent on oaks for habitat and food. This site has a wealth of information on SOD, including maps, newsletters, and news for homeowners.
Courage
12.5.2001
Redneck Vampire! This is, perhaps, my favorite link ever.
Really and truly. This may indeed be the best thing on the whole electronet. (via rob)
From Andy:
Hey there kids -- tomorrow (Thursday) night, me and Noel are going to be spinning a massive set of funk, soul, hindi hiphop, and rock down at Claddagh -- a bar at the intersection of 20th & 3rd Streets. If you've not been down there before, check a map -- it's a crazy neighborhood of warehouses, dockyards, and clubs (just a stone's throw from Kelly's, SnowBall, The Ramp, etc) and the residents are just a bizarre a mix -- the elderly, the hipsters, and the hell's angels. We're appearing in their deep dark dank lounge -- a throwback to Pilam for those Phillykids out there -- and we'll start things up at about 9:30.
Final Cut Pro 3 comes to MacOS X. If you haven't used Mac OS X, you haven't used the fastest, most stable operating system in the world. It's truly amazing, unlike any other OS on the planet. And now that final cut is here, it's the perfect tool for Video editing. Whither Photoshop? (thanks jeff!)
Watt & Melt Banana doing Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs (thanks Erinn!)
Eric did a great Today's papers today. See the Strom quote at the end.
Yesterday, for the first time, I took advantage of being unemployed. Harper and I spent the afternoon at the California Academy of Sciences. It was a terrific way to spend the day. We saw all kinds of groovy creatures, a Gary Larson exhibit, and, of course, cockroaches.
An interesting side discussion came up about John Walker on the wattlist.
At 06:55 PM 12/4/2001 -0800, bofus? wrote:
his parents' fault? one irony of u.s. history is ben franklin
and his son each calling one another traitor, see:
http://08016.com/wfranklin.html
http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/willie.html
http://www.ca-probate.com/wills/FRANKLIN.HTM
http://www.marylandloyalists.org/unithistory.html
I feel bad that I didn't know about sister sf until I read this article on the Bay area DJ collective for women. Cool.
John WalkerWhat do you think?
- Will he be tried for treason?
- Should he be?
- Does he deserve any pity?
12.4.2001
Happy Birthday Sherri!
And on a lighter note (than below) monkey!
When I walked into N.'s on Saturday, he was distraught, watching the news coming out of Israel. "This is really bad," he said. "A whole bunch of innocent people are getting killed." He went on to say that the only way to stop the violence was for the US to intervene. Yesterday morning, I fired up the electronet to start my day, and said Good Morning to my friend K., who lives in New Jersey. He replied that it was a horrible morning, also citing the violence in Israel. K. didn't even want to discuss it, telling me that his views would piss me off. I got somewhat the same sense from N. N. is Palestinian, K. is Jewish. Both of them have much stronger feelings about Israel and Palestine than an Alabama Goy like me will ever muster.
This is a situation where I'm uncomfortable picking sides, like when two of your friends are arguing. You feel both sides are wrong, and you just wish they'd work it out. I haven't really worked out what I think should be done. Or what could be done. So in lieu of that, I'm just going to talk about my feelings on the region.
As a kid, I had a pretty straight up interpretation events: Israel good, Palestine bad. Some of this stemmed from a trip we took to Israel when I was a kid. We traveled over from Iran. While we were there, a bomb went off, and we spent the rest of our vacation watching tanks roll down the street and planes criss-cross the sky. We were told by a local that Israel would have a strong response; that Israel always had a strong response in order to keep from being destroyed by its neighbors.
My views didn't change too much over the years because, quite honestly, I never gave it much thought. Until I went to Kuwait. In Kuwait, three of the guys I worked closely with were Palestinian. One of them, Mohammed, was a hell of a guy, and we became friends. It was from Mohammed that I heard, for the first time, the plight of Palestinians abroad. I didn't realize what it meant to be a landless people until then. But it was a guy named Osama who got my attention.
Osama and I were working together, alone, on the day a truck, loaded with ammunition, blew up at the US Army base several miles away. At the time, we had no idea what it was. This was just after the Gulf War had ended, and there were daily rumors that Saddam was coming back in again. All we knew was that we were sitting down at two desks, doing paperwork, when we heard a massive explosion that blew both the doors shut. We were used to explosions, you heard them every day. But not on this scale. It was immediately followed by a series of smaller explosions at irregular intervals.
He freaked. I mean, he completely lost it. He talked about how he'd suffered through two invasions, first the Iraqis than the Americans. How he feared that his daughters would be killed by falling bombs. How he couldn't go anywhere because he was Palestinian, and he didn't know what to do, but that he was getting out. And with that, he jumped in his truck and drove off, leaving me alone. Osama, this Osama (which he told me meant sword), was just a guy with a 9 to 5 trying to lead a normal life. I felt awful for him, and for all of those in his situation. He was better educated that most of the Kuwaitis I met, but he would never have the opportunities they did, because he was Palestinian. It was fucked up.
Just a few months later, I was in college. One of my best friends there was a guy named Eddie. The year before, he had taken a trip to Israel with several friends of his from high school. They went to the beach, and while they were there one of his friends, a girl not even eighteen, was killed by a Palestinian bomb. He wound up with gore all over him. How do you justify that? How can you call that a pursuit of freedom?
Both sides are horribly wrong. Both sides are engaging in the murder of innocents, both sides continue are, quite literally, baby killers. And both think that the other side is out to completely destroy them, to wipe them off of the face of the Earth.
But the fact of the matter is that most people on both sides are just plain folks who want to work and live and go about their business without worrying about suicide bombers or Armed helicopters.
So it's up to us. It's up to people like you and me to force a peace agreement. I don't know how that happens. Yet again, this seems to me like a good argument for global government. Nations are antiquated, and lead only to divisions and violence. As long as nations exist, we live with war.
12.3.2001
I saw a blogsnob ad for ego inc with the taglline "bikes, punk, dc." 2 out of 3 ain't too bad; the ad caught my interest and I clicked through. He's got some gorgeous bike-oriented desktop wallpaper and a cool (maybe that's the wrong word) section chronicling injuries. (via harp)
Since I've suddenly found myself with a copious amount of time on my hands, I've been, well, doing nothing today but cleaning the house and walking over to the computer to acknowledge the chimes of instant mesages. As for my list of to-dos (redesigning this site being near the top of the list), I've made no progess on any of them. But I have enjoyed reading Johnathan Prince's (of photographica) site, kill your tv dot com. Enjoy.
My old boss, RU Sirius, has a new publication out called The Thresher. I was suppossed to write something for that first issue, but I flaked. Nonetheless, it's still quite interesting, and entertaining too.
I've heard the squealing coming from these new busses myself, and I can attest that yes, it's an awful, earsplitting sound. But isn't that all the more reason to send them to Salt Lake city?
Is the KPFA saga coming to an end?
Some pictures from Jeff's party
Ginger/IT was unveiled today. I'll save you the suspense, it's a scooter. Sure it's a very cool scooter that looks like no other scooter you've seen before. But, magic sneakers my ass. Anyone else feeling a bit like Geraldo, standing in the middle of Capone's vault with an empty bottle of whiskey? Oh well, at least at least it'll be heavily spoofed. (Thanks Evan!)
12.1.2001
Finally, an about me page
Metafilter is all about Worlds AIDS day today. Rob also has a heartfelt post on a friend with AIDS today.
World AIDS Day
We were little boys, we were little girls...
Did we miss anything?
When I was in junior high school, I discovered REM. For a weirdo kid in Montgomery, Ala., in the repressive 1980s, REM was more than just a band, they were hope. I was an instant fan, particularly when I heard they were from neighboring Georgia. I didn't know how to describe the music, all I knew was that it was different than the dreck most of my contemporaries listened to. At thirteen, I didn't have any clue where to pick up a music zine in Montgomery. Hell, I was in high school before I even knew such a thing existed.
So you learned about bands by what your friends were listening to. Or by walking into the record store and asking what kind of music they had that I might like "if I like REM." And then record store clerks with Ratt pins on their lapels and David Lee Roth or Duran Duran playing on the store's stereo would tell me that maybe I should check out the Butthole Surfers or Pylon or the Velvet Underground or the Replacements or Husker Du or even Black Flag, because the REM people also bought that stuff and maybe you might like it. This was, in fact, how I discovered Metallica, Bob Marley, and the Grateful Dead, via clueless clerks at Turtle's Records and Tapes who didn't know anything but Top 40 and "other stuff that people who dress funny listen to." (Not that there weren't plenty of great record-store music junkies who turned me on to great bands because they saw an inquisitive kid who reminded them of themselves; there were.) By high school, when REM was already huge, this tactic no longer worked and would only get you a Connells album, or possibly something by Dreams So Real, or one of the hundreds of other bands out there diligently working to put out another Fables of the Reconstruction.
I digress....
REM, upon first discovery, was like moving to San Francisco: it was freedom. REM made me realize that Southern kids could make art. And those glorious early albums make me think of drafty houses with peeling paint and hardwood floors in Athens where you could hear early strains of "7 Chinese Brothers" echoing through the still December air. And today, as I sit around the house on a rainy day, listening to Murmer, I'm so happy for those first several albums. I remember feeling jilted like a spurned lover when, on Green, REM began dramatically tinkering with their sound, sounding like An Entirely Other Band.
In retrospect this was a very good thing. They could have put out Driver 8 and Harborcoat and Fall on Me knock-offs indefinitely. But instead they chose to grow, kudos. By the time I graduated high school, they were no longer my favorite band. And although I decorated my walls in two countries, three states and six cities with the same ratty Chronic Town poster all the way up until 1995, they always played second or third fiddle to my favorite band(s) of the moment. And although I adored Up, and Automatic for the People, none of the albums they released in the 1990s (or even 1989's Green) did it for me the way Fables, Reckoning, Murmer, Life's Rich, and Document had. And for a while I sort of resented that.
But today, with seventeen years of fandom under my belt, mostly I just appreciate what they did for me, how they changed my life by way of introduction. And I listen to this music, made by young kids who are now middle-aged men, and I think, pushing thirty, how wonderful those mumbling verses with the jingle-jangle guitar were. The ones that launched a thousand bands, forcing them away from their original sound, and how the boys from Clarke country bear responsibility for much of the pop music made in the 1990s (which, although not good, pop music rarely is, was infinitely cooler than 80s pop). And I think how REM is in a large way responsible for who I am, for my politics, for my taste in music, for my interest in remaining independent. And for not being ashamed to be a Southerner; for trying to be a Southerner in my own weird way.
I read Rob's post on missing out on the E6 bands roots by way of laziness, and I kick myself for it too. But not so much as it makes me determined. Because REM, like Jeff Mangum, created their own scene, made their own art (and they did it in a backwater! REM's Athens was not the same one I inhabited. They created the one I lived in).
And that's the primary thing I took away from them: no art, no music, no movement is as good as that which you make yourself. Like Mike Watt says: make your own art. Most of the time it will be awful stuff that nobody likes but you. But that's exactly what it's all about. Tat's the fucking point: the only way to be happy is to make what you need to make. You don't get REMs and minutemen from anyone who's trying to do what's been done before, who's trying to perfect a craft. Art comes from striking out on your own. And so all these years later, even as th music no longer sounds very different, REM is still a call to arms for me, a message to wake up and get out and do it and make sure that it's my way. That's what I'm trying to do as a writer. That's why I chose unemployment over artiface. I don't want to spend myself writing things I have to, or editing other people's stuff: I want to make my own, and I want to do it my way.
I didn't do that when I was twenty, I was too busy being a drug-addled, drunken idiot. I've finally got it together, and I'm young enough to not have too many responsibilities, while old enough to appreciate the opportunity before me. This time, I'm not going to miss anything.
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